Tourism Projections On Track

Jamaica is well on its way to achieving its 2022 projections of total visitor arrivals of 3.2 million and total revenue of US$3.3 billion, says Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett.

Closing the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on June 14, Mr. Bartlett said the arrival figures from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) signal that the sector is proving its resilience and a return to pre-pandemic performance, which is on the horizon.

“Which means, by early 2023 we would have been back to 2019 [figures] and going beyond 2019 at the end of 2023. If we intend to maintain any semblance of the momentum, and you know we always do, we can safely say that well before 2024, we will have 4.5 million visitors and we will earn US$4.7 billion,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the latest Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) economic performance update for January to March 2022 indicates that the Real Value Added for Hotels & Restaurants increased by an estimated 105.7 per cent.

Preliminary data revealed that stopover arrivals increased by 230.1 per cent to 475,805 visitors, and cruise passenger arrivals totalled 99,798.

In addition, based on PIOJ data for January to February 2022, total visitor expenditure increased to US$485.6 million, when compared to US$169.2 million during the corresponding period in 2021.